Then King Hrœrek spoke as follows: “True it is that the kingdom of King Harald Fairhair has fallen on evil days since no one of his race is supreme king in Norway. Now people in this land have tried to help themselves in this way and that. King Hákon, the foster son of Æthelstān, was king, and all liked him well. But when the sons of Gunnhild ruled over the country, all hated their tyranny and injustice, and people preferred to have foreign kings rule over them and be more independent, because foreign chieftains generally resided far away and did not care much what faith people had but [only] levied such tribute from the country as they decreed. And when Harald, the king of the Danes, and Earl Hákon fell out, then the Jómsvíkings harried in Norway. And then all the people rose up against them and made an end of these hostilities. Thereupon some encouraged Earl Hákon to hold the land against the Danish king and defend it with might and main. But as soon as he considered himself to be in complete possession of the land through the support of the people, he became so hard and tyrannical against them that they would not stand for that, and the people of Trondheim killed him themselves and elevated to the kingship Óláf Tryggvason, who was by birth entitled to the crown and in all respects fit to be king. All the commoners were inordinately eager to have him as king over them and to raise anew the dominion of which Harald Fairhair had had possession. But as soon as Óláf thought he had complete power, no one could maintain his independence against him. He proceeded with harshness against us small kings, exacting from us all the tribute Harald Fairhair had taken here, and more still; and people were even less independent of him insofar as no one was his own master as to what god he was to believe in. And now he has been taken from us we have maintained friendly relations with the Danish king and have had his complete support in all demands we need to make, and our independence and an easy existence within our land, and no tyranny. Now, so far as my opinion is concerned I wish to say that I am well pleased with matters as they are. I don’t know whether my condition will be improved if my kinsman becomes king over the land. And if that isn’t the case, then I don’t mean to have any share in these plans.”
Then Hring, his brother, spoke as follows: “I shall tell you my opinion. It would seem preferable to me, granted I have the same power and properties, that a kinsman of mine be king over Norway, rather than foreign chieftains and if our race could rise again in our country. But as to this man Óláf, I surmise that his fate and his good luck will decide whether or no he will obtain the power here in Norway; and if he does become absolute ruler, then it seems it will be advantageous for him who has a stronger claim on his friendship. At present he has in no wise greater power than any of us; and less, insofar as we have some lands and power at our disposal and he has none. Neither are we by birth less entitled to the royal title. Now we want to be such strong supporters of his that we do not begrudge him the highest rank in this country and aid him to that end with all our power. Why should he not reward us well for that and bear it long in mind, if he is indeed so great a hero as I believe him to be and all call him? If I am to prevail, then let us take that risk and join him as our friend.”
Thereupon, one after the other of the chieftains got up and spoke; and the end of the discussion was that the majority was ready to make common cause with King Óláf. He pledged them his true friendship and an increase in their privileges, once he was supreme king in Norway. Thereupon they pledged adherence to their agreement with oaths.
Chapter 37. Óláf Is Accepted as King of Norway
After that, the kings summoned an assembly, and there Óláf made known to the people these plans and the claim he had to the succession. He asked the farmers to accept him as king of the land, promising them in return maintenance of the ancient laws and to defend them against foreign armies and chieftains. His speech was long and eloquent, and it was well received. Then the kings arose, one after another, all supporting his cause and what Óláf had said. And as a result, Óláf was given the title of king over all Norway, and the land was adjudicated to him according to the laws of the Uppland District.
Chapter 38. Óláf Forces the People of Methal Dale to Acknowledge Him
Thereupon King Óláf forthwith started on his royal progress, bidding people prepare for his entertainment wherever there were royal estates. First he visited about Hathaland and then proceeded north to Guthbrands Dale. Then it went as Sigurth Sýr had predicted: so many came to join his colors that he considered he needed but half their number—and by that time he had almost three hundred [360] men—so that the entertainments agreed upon were inadequate, because it had been the custom for kings to go about the Uppland District with sixty or seventy followers, but never with more than one hundred. So the king travelled fast, staying only one night in the same place. And when he arrived at the mountains to the north, he started on his passage over them till he arrived at their northern side. Descending, he arrived in Upp Dale and stayed there during the night. Then he traversed the Upp Dale Forest and came out in Methal Dale, where he called for an assembly and summoned the farmers to come to meet him. Thereupon he spoke at the assembly, demanding that the farmers should recognize him as king, promising them in turn to maintain the rights and laws such as King Óláf Tryggvason had given them. The farmers were not strong enough to go counter to him, and the end was that they acknowledged him, confirming the agreement with oaths. Nevertheless they had sent messengers down to Orka Dale and also to Skaun who reported about King Óláf and told all they knew about him.
Chapter 39. Einar Thambarskelfir Prepares to Resist Óláf
Einar Thambarskelfir had an estate at Skaun, and when the news came to him about King Óláf’s proceedings, he at once sent the war-arrows in all directions, summoning both freedmen and thralls to come fully armed and bidding them to defend the land against King Óláf. These war-arrows went to Orka Dale and to Gaular Dale, and troops gathered there from all directions.
Chapter 40. Óláf Persuades the People of Orka Dale to Acknowledge Him
King Óláf with his force proceeded down to Orka Dale. He proceeded very quietly and peacefully. And when he arrived at Grjótar, he encountered the host of farmers, more than seven hundred [840] strong. Then the king drew up his men in battle array, thinking that the farmers were going to fight him. But when the farmers saw that they also began to array themselves in battle order, but this was not so easy for them, for it had not been decided beforehand who was to be their leader. And when King Óláf noticed that there was confusion among the farmers, he sent Thórir Guthbrandsson over to them; and he told them that King Óláf did not want to fight them. He pointed out twelve of the most influential men among them and asked them to come to meet with King Óláf. And the farmers agreed to that and came forward across a ridge to where stood the king’s men in battle array.
Then the king said, “You farmers have done well to give me a chance to talk with you, because I want to tell you about my business here in the region of Trondheim. First of all I know you have heard that Earl Hákon and I had an encounter, this summer; and it ended with his giving me all the dominion he had had in the Province of Trondheim, which as you know comprises the Districts of Orka Dale, Gaular Dale, and Strind, and the Islands. And I have witnesses here who were present when the earl made this pledge to me and who heard the words of the oaths and all the stipulations made between us. I shall offer you the laws and the securities which King Óláf Tryggvason offered to you before me.”
He spoke at length and eloquently, and in conclusion offered the farmers the alternative, either to accept him and give him their allegiance or else to do battle with him. Thereupon the farmers returned to their people and reported to them what the king had told them. They then counselled with all the people which of the alternatives to take. And though they debated this for a while between them, in the end they chose to swear allegiance to the king, and that was agreed upon with oaths on the part of the farmers.
Thereupon the king arranged for his further progress, and the farmers enterta
ined him as he went along. He made his way down to the seashore and there procured ships. He had two warships, one a vessel with twenty rowers’ benches, given him by Gunnar of Gelmin, the other, also with twenty rowers’ benches, given him by Lothin of Viggjar. A third ship, of the same description, was gotten from Angrar at Ness. That estate had been a possession of Earl Hákon and was managed by a steward by the name of Bárth the White. The king had [also] four or five skiffs, and with all these he proceeded quickly into the Trondheimfjord.
Chapter 41. Earl Svein Eludes Óláf
At that time Earl Svein was at Steinker1 at the head of the Trondheimfjord and was preparing for a Yuletide banquet there. There was a market town there. Einar Thambarskelfir had learned that the people of Orka Dale had sworn allegiance to King Óláf. Then he sent messengers to Earl Svein. They went first to Nitharós and there took a rowing skiff that belonged to Einar, then rowed into the upper reaches of the fjord and arrived late one day at Steinker and reported this news to the earl, telling him all about King Óláf’s proceedings. The earl had a warship which rode tented on the fjord outside the town. He forthwith had his movable property, the clothing of his men, and food and drink as much as the ship could hold, brought on board in the evening; thereupon they set out immediately that same night and at dawn arrived at Skarn Sound. There they saw King Óláf rowing into the fjord with his fleet. Then the earl turned toward the land at Masarvík. A dense forest grew there, and they moored the ship so close to the wooded slope that the leaves and branches of the trees hung down over the ship. Then they felled trees and placed them in the water on the outside so that the ship could not be seen for the leaves. It was not yet full daylight when the king rowed into the sound past them. It was a wind-still day. The king rowed into the sound past the island. But as soon as they could not see one another, the earl rowed out into the fjord and kept going till he reached Frosta Peninsula where they landed. That was in the earl’s territory.
Chapter 42. Earl Svein Confers with Einar Thambarskelfir
Earl Svein sent messengers to Gaular Dale for Einar, his brother-in-law; and when the two met, the earl told Einar what had taken place between him and King Óláf, and said that he wanted to collect a force and advance against King Óláf and fight it out with him. Einar answered him as follows: “Let us proceed cautiously and find out with the help of spies what King Óláf’s plans are. Let him find out about us only that we are keeping quiet. Maybe then, if he does not find out about our collecting troops he will settle at Steinker for Yule, because there are plenty of provisions there now. But if he does find out that we are collecting troops, he is likely to steer out of the fjord, and then he will escape us.” It was done as Einar counselled. The earl journeyed up to Stjóra Dale to be entertained there by the farmers.
Now when King Óláf arrived at Steinker, he took away all the provisions intended for the banquet and had them carried to his ships, to which he added a merchantman, taking along both food and drink, and hurried away the fastest he could, rowing all the way to Nitharós. There, King Óláf Tryggvason had laid the foundations of a market town, as was written above. But when Eirík came to rule the land, he had favored Hlathir, where his father had established his headquarters, and neglected the buildings which Óláf had erected on the banks of the Nith River, so that some had collapsed and others still stood but were rather uninhabitable. King Óláf steered his ships up the Nith River and immediately had those houses repaired which still stood and had those raised up which had fallen. He put many men to work to do that, and then had both the drink and the victuals moved into the houses, intending to celebrate Yule there. But when Earl Svein and Einar learned that they changed their plans.
Chapter 43. The Skald Sigvat Joins King Óláf
There was an Icelander called Thórth Sigvaldaskáld. He had for a long time been the retainer, first of Earl Sigvaldi, and then of Thorkel the Tall, the earl’s brother; but after the fall of the earl he had become a merchant. He had met King Óláf when he was on his viking expedition in the west, and became his retainer, following him afterwards. He was with the king at the time. Sigvat was the son of this Thórth and had been fostered by Thorkel at Apavatn. But when he was almost full grown, he had left the country in the company of some merchants. That fall this ship arrived in the Trondheim District, and the men were quartered in the surrounding country. The same winter King Óláf arrived in the Trondheim District, as is told above. And when Sigvat heard that his father was there with the king, he went to the king, met his father Thórth, and dwelt there for some time. Sigvat had at an early age become a good skald. He had composed a poem about King Óláf and asked the king to listen to it. The king said he did not want to have poems composed about himself and that he did not understand skaldship. Then Sigvat spoke this verse:
(34.)
223. List to my song, sea-steed’s-
sinker thou, for greatly
skilled at the skein am I—
a skald you must have—of verses;
and even if thou, king of
all Norway, hast ever
scorned and scoffed at other
skalds, yet I shall praise thee.
As a reward for his verse, King Óláf gave Sigvat a ring weighing four ounces. Sigvat became a member of King Óláf’s bodyguard. Then he spoke this verse:
(35.)
224. Lief I was, my liege, and
loath nowise, to accept your
gracious gift—I did so
gladly—and be your courtier.
Hero, a faithful housecarl
hast thou gained in me, and
I—excellent trade!—an
open-handed master.
Earl Svein had that fall taken half of the landing tax1 as had been the custom before; for Earl Eirík and Earl Hákon had half of these as well as other revenues from the District of Trondheim. Now when King Óláf had arrived there, he commissioned his men to collect half of the landing tax from the Icelandic merchants. But they went up to the king [to complain about having to pay twice], and asked Sigvat to intercede for them. Then he went before the king and spoke this verse:
(36.)
225. Not unwilling warriors may
ween me to beg for pelf now—
often before from you
Fáfnir’s treasure had I.
Forgive the land tax, gold-ring-
giver, half of it, e’en though
for my own ship I have
asked you for that favor.
Chapter 44. King Óláf Evacuates Nitharós
Earl Svein and Einar Thambarskelfir gathered a large army and proceeded to Gaular Dale over the mountains toward Nitharós. They had nearly twenty hundred [2400] men. Some followers of King Óláf were on Gaular Ridge as a mounted guard. They became aware of the army marching down Gaular Dale, and brought the news to the king at midnight. King Óláf arose immediately and had his men awakened. They went on board their ships at once, carrying with them all their clothes, their weapons, and all else they managed to take, and then rowed out of the river. No sooner were they gone but the earl’s army marched into the town. They removed all the provisions intended for the Yule banquet and burned down all the houses. King Óláf sailed out of the fjord and to Orka Dale, where he disembarked; and from there he marched up Orka Dale Valley till he came to the mountains, and then over the mountains to [Guthbrands] Dale. About this, that Earl Svein burned down the town of Nitharós, we are told in the flokk1 which was composed about Klœng Brúsason:
(37.)
226. Burned the liege’s lodgings—
laid them low the fire, while
singed the men hot smoke and
cinders—down to the River.
Chapter 45. Óláf Collects Troops in the Uppland Districts
Then King Óláf marched south down Guthbrands Dale, and from 1015 there to Heithmork. There he spent all the time in midwinter, being entertained [by the farmers]; but when spring approached he collected an army and proceeded to Vík. He had with
him a large following from Heithmork which the kings had procured for him. Many landed-men went with him from there, among them Ketil Kálf of Hringuness. Also from Raumaríki King Óláf had reinforcements. King Sigurth Sýr, his stepfather, joined him with a large host of men. Then they proceeded toward the sea, procured themselves ships, and outfitted themselves in Vík. They had a large and well-equipped crew. And when they were ready they set out for Tuns-berg.
Chapter 46. Earl Svein Collects Troops against Óláf
Earl Svein collected troops all about the Trondheim District immediately after Yule, summoning a levy, and also made ships ready. At that time there was in Norway a great number of landed-men. Many of them were powerful and so high-born as to be in direct descent from royal or earls’ families, and they were also very rich. Whoever governed the country, whether kings or earls, depended on them, because in every district it was these landed-men who had the greatest influence with the farmers. Earl Svein was good friends with these landed-men, and so it was easy to collect troops. Einar Thambarskelfir, his brother-in-law, was in his company, and so were many other landed-men, and also many who before had sworn allegiance to King Óláf, both landed-men and farmers. As soon as they were ready they sailed out of the fjord, steering south along the land and collecting auxiliaries from every district. And when they arrived south, outside of Rogaland, Erling Skjálgsson joined them with a large fleet, and a great many landed-met! with him. When all were together the fleet sailed east to Vík. It was toward the end of the Lenten Season when Earl Svein entered the Vík District. The earl steered his fleet past Grenmar and anchored at Nesjar.
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